Rent Burden, Housing Subsidies and the Well-being of Children and Youth

What is rent burden?

Rent burden is defined as spending more than 30 percent of
household income on rent. In 2009, more than half of
renter-occupied households with children (54 percent) experienced
rent burden. Between 2002 and 2009, the proportion of households
with children affected by rent burden increased significantly.
Although rates of rent burden had remained relatively stable for
several years between 2002 and 2006, they began to increase from
2006 to 2009. With the majority of renter-occupied households with
children spending a large proportion of their incomes on housing,
this issue has important implications for children’s
well-being.

For low-income families (family income under 200 percent of
federal poverty threshold), who are more likely than more affluent
families to rent than own housing and have fewer resources
available to devote to rent, the experience of rent burden is
particularly acute. Nearly 80 percent of lowincome households with
children spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent. Other
types of housing problems that low-income families face include
crowded housing or inadequate housing due to physical conditions of
buildings such as lack of complete plumbing for exclusive use,
unvented heaters as the primary heating equipment, water leakage,
open cracks or holes, or rodents. However, compared with rent
burden, a relatively small proportion of households with children
experience these issues. That is, about five to six percent of all
households with children and about 11 to 14 percent of very
low-income families (families with income less than 50 percent of
the median income for the geographical area in which they lived)
experience at least one of these problems. Thus, the current
housing problem that affects the majority of households with
children is rent burden.

Does rent burden vary by geography or family
characteristics?

In the United States, 57 percent of children in renteroccupied
households –14.1 million – are affected by rent burden
(see Table 1). Across the four main U.S. regions (Northeast,
Midwest, South and West), rates of rent burden among children in
renter-occupied households do not vary greatly. However, children
in urban areas experience higher rates (59 percent) of rent burden
compared to those in rural areas (49 percent). Research by the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development suggests that variation
in rates of rent burden by region and urban/rural status may be
influenced by geographic variation in the supply of affordable
housing.

Although excessive rent burden affects all types of households,
the incidence of rent burden varies by important socio-demographic
characteristics. Across racial/ethnic groups, Black and Hispanic
children experience the highest rates of rent burden (65 percent
and 62 percent, respectively). Asians and American Indian children
experience the lowest rates of rent burden (46 percent for both
groups). Children of immigrant parents are disproportionately
affected by rent burden compared to children of native-born
parents.